O is for Outdoors
by Avirra
Summary: It was just supposed to be a two-day trip.  A little fishing and maybe a little bit of each trying to figure the other man out.  But simple plans don't always stay that way.
1. Chapter 1

****O** is for Outdoors**

**Part I**

"Are you out of your mind, Roy?"

The paramedic team was on their way back to the station from Rampart. They were near the end of a very grueling rotation and looking very forward to a little time off. Roy didn't seem at all perturbed by his partner questioning his sanity.

"I don't see why you think it would be such a disaster, Junior. You both like fishing, right?"

"Well . . . yeah. But? Me? And Chet? Alone together?"

"How many people do you need? Are you planning to wrestle the fish?"

"I was referring to that fact that there wouldn't be anyone else around to keep us from getting totally on each other's nerves."

"One fishing trip. You don't enjoy his company, you don't invite him again. He doesn't enjoy yours, he won't accept again. Assuming he'd accept the first invitation."

Roy knew exactly what he was doing phrasing it that way. And, as he expected, Johnny rose to it and took the bait.

"What do you mean, assuming he'd accept? Why wouldn't he accept? He likes fishing."

"Well, sure he does. But he'd probably be suspicious."

"Of me?"

"Sure. You talk about getting even for the Phantom nailing you. He might figure that you've cooked up some scheme."

"You really think so?"

"It's not what I think - it's what Chet might think. You've said it before - his brain doesn't quite operate on the same frequency."

"His brain doesn't quite operate, period."

"Now see? That's the thing I can never figure out with you two. I've seen Chet when you get hurt - and I've seen you when Chet gets hurt. For two guys that pretend not to get along, you sure do worry about each other a lot."

"Spit it out, Roy. You're obviously going somewhere but I don't know where."

"I just think that maybe if you and Chet have a little time to talk, just the two of you, maybe you could figure each other out. Like us - we talk about different things when its just me and you than we do when all the other guys are around."

"Maybe . . . but what would we talk about? Not like Chester B. and I have all that much in common."

"Oh, come on, Johnny. The two of you aren't even two years apart in age. You're both single. You're bound to find some common ground somewhere. Hey, not like you have to take my advice. But you're the one that said you wanted to do some fishing and wanted a little company. And trust me, if Joanne didn't have me locked into a dentist appointment, I'd be the first to volunteer. I hate going to the dentist - which is why I know Joanne won't let me postpone it. She's used to me trying to stall my way out."

Johnny went quiet at that - which Roy knew meant that he was turning things over in his brain. So he added just one more light nudge.

"At least, you wouldn't have to worry about the Phantom popping up. What would Chet do? Blame a water balloon on a passing bear?"

The laughter sort of erupted out of Johnny on that mental image and Roy just grinned. The station was in sight now. He'd planted the seed and that was really all he could do.

As they headed into the kitchen area to grab some coffee, Johnny looked around. Mike had his head in a magazine, Cap had his door open as he whittled down the seemingly endless pile of paperwork, Marco was at the fridge pouring himself a glass of milk and Chet was on the couch with Henry completely filling his lap and apparently very content to let Chet rub his ears.

Passing the first cup of coffee to his partner, Roy turned just enough to hide a smile as Johnny started over toward Chet.

"Looks like Henry's decided that you're more comfortable than the couch."

"Being warmer than it is probably my advantage. How was the run, Gage?"

"Eh - trickiest part was getting the dad and mom to calm down. Kid was as cool as a cucumber. Would you believe he was the one reassuring his parents through the whole thing?"

"Crazy. Never know what you'll run across, do you?"

"Nope."

Silence took over again for a minute until Henry suddenly lifted his head and gave Chet a big swipe with his tongue across the Irishman's chin, causing laughter to erupt at the face Chet made on contact. Johnny reached over and gave Henry a scratch.

"Say, Chet - got any plans?"

"Naw, not really. You?"

"I was thinking about heading over to a spot I know. Do a little fishing. Want to come?"

"Sure. Who all is coming?"

"Counting you? Two of us."

To his surprise, Johnny did see the immediate shift in Chet from at ease to suspicious.

"Why?"

"Why not? You like fishing. Not like I'm going to ask someone that hates fishing."

He could practically see Chet searching for a semi-graceful way out and knew right then if he hadn't already said he didn't have plans, plans would have been invented spur of the moment. As it was, Chet finally just sat back - only to have Henry take another swipe at his chin.

"Hey, cut that out!"

That seemed to break the stalemate and Chet finally looked back up at Johnny.

"Alright. Sure. Fishing."

Even though he wasn't even looking that direction, Johnny could still feel the amusement in the blue eyes watching from across the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part II**

The arrangements didn't take long to figure out. They'd each head to their respective homes to get their gear, then Chet would grab some breakfast to go, drive over to Johnny's and they'd take the Land Rover to the spot where they'd camp overnight at. By the time they were ready to leave the station, Chet was less apprehensive and more enthusiastic about the trip.

The Rover was already packed with Johnny's tent and fishing supplies when Chet pulled up, transferring his own fishing gear and sleeping bag into the Rover before pulling out a pair of to-go boxes.

"Cindy fixed us both her special mess. Dig in."

Raising the lid cautiously, Johnny had to admit that 'mess' was the right name for it – it seemed mainly ham, potato and egg with onion and some other unidentifiable items mixed in with salsa dumped over the top. After a couple of pokes at it with a fork though, he dug in. It thankfully tasted a lot better than it looked and was very filling. Even for Johnny, who noted his portion was considerably larger than Chet's.

"You not very hungry, Chester?"

That earned Johnny an eye roll.

"We don't all have a metabolism that can process the contents of a grocery store in twenty-four hours, Gage."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I'd be willing to bet that you've never had to worry about losing weight in your life."

After a moment of hesitation, Johnny shrugged.

"No. Gaining it was a bigger problem."

Johnny considered for a minute while chewing before he added a thought to that.

"Fast metabolism's not always a good thing."

Chet seemed to mull that thought around as a new idea before smirking.

"Well, maybe we can both just give Marco and Mike dirty looks. They always seem to stay the same sizes no matter what's on the plate in front of them."

Johnny just chuckled at that.

"Not including Roy in with the dirty looks?"

"Naw. Roy's got the same grief I do, only worse."

"Worse?"

"Yep. I don't have a wife that's a great cook. Man, they have to roll me out the door if I was around her cooking all the time."

That got another chuckle from Johnny as he polished off the last of the 'mess'.

"I'm sure Joanne would be flattered by your appreciation of her cooking. Well, we about ready to hit the road?"

"I'm done. Nice thing about a take-out tray. No dishes to wash."

"There's a paper sack in the fridge, Chester. Grab that, will you? It's our lunch."

Johnny added the two containers to his trash bag then took it outside and added it to his can.

"Looks like we're going to have good weather for our fishing trip, Chester."

"Am I going to get called Chester the entire time?"

"Depends. Am I going to get called Gage the entire time?"

Making a sound somewhere in-between a snort and a laugh, Chet climbed into the passenger seat.

"Touché, John. I'm willing to save most of the barbs for the fish."

Quirking a smile, Johnny started up the Rover. Maybe Roy had a point that Chet would be different without an audience.

"Say, do you mind a bit of a hike?"

"How large of a bit are we talking, John?"

"Two miles. Best spot for fishing, but you can't drive to it."

"Two miles, I can do. Assuming it isn't two miles up a cliff. Glad I didn't pack heavy. Well, except for the pan."

"You brought a pan?"

"Cast iron. Had it for years, so it's well seasoned."

"Cool."

It was about an hour and a half to drive to the spot Johnny had in mind to leave the Rover. Chet drug out the cast iron skillet to show it off.

"This thing is older than I am. It belonged to my Doherty grandmother."

Johnny took hold of it for a minute, then stared.

"Good grief – how much does that thing weigh?"

"Around twenty pounds and the lid weighs about another fifteen pounds. Trust me though, I wouldn't lug it around if it was just dead weight."

"Your back."

"Why do you think I wanted to make sure how far we were hoofing it?"

Johnny was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't have to slow things down much for Chet to keep up, even with the heavy cooking gear. In fact, Chet seemed to be a little quicker on the pace than Roy usually was. When Johnny stopped at the small clearing where he intended to put up the tent, Chet looked around as he dropped his pack and gave a low whistle.

"This is nice. Man, how'd you ever find this spot?"

"Pure lucky accident. I guess it was the second year after I came to 51. Roy and I were taking Chris on a hike on the other side of the water to help him with a merit badge he was after. Just before we were going to turn back and head out, I looked over and saw this little rise. Next time we wanted to fish, we came here and been coming back ever since."

"It was worth the walk. So, what do you want me to do first?"

That took Johnny slightly by surprise.

"You're asking me?"

"Your spot, your tent. I figure that makes the grunt labor my contribution."

"We'll make cooking the catch your contribution. The rest we'll double-team."

"Works for me."

It was obviously not Chet's first time pitching a tent, so their campsite was ready quicker than Johnny had expected. Waiting until the main heat of the day had passed, they munched on the sandwiches Johnny had packed then headed down to the water in the late afternoon. The fish were biting relatively well and they kept the four largest fish for their meal, releasing the rest.

Johnny still felt like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, but Chet started up the fire and started the pan heating up before he took and cleaned the fish. He didn't have the greatest faith in Chet's cooking abilities, but figured that they could get more fish if this batch was ruined.

Chet dished out the first fried fish and Johnny was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out. Crispy outside, but flaky and done inside.

"I'm impressed. I didn't know you could cook fish like this."

"Not like I'm going to cook fish at the station with Cap around, John. You know he hates fish. Besides, the credit goes to the fish being really fresh and this pan being really good."

When the last of the fish was in the skillet, Chet pulled out a sealed plastic bag of mystery ingredients (though Johnny was pretty sure it was mostly corn meal) and a small can of evaporated milk. He mixed the two together and dropped globs of the mix into the hot oil after removing the last fish. Freshly made hush-puppies were something Johnny hadn't tried before and he found he liked them. Once the frying was done, Chet carefully settled the very hot skillet onto a patch of green grass and put the lid on it to keep the oil clean before he settled down to eat himself.

As the sun got low, they found themselves debating the relative merits of the nurses at Rampart in a way that likely would have gotten them banned from ever dating nurses again had any of the ladies in question been in hearing range. Without quite knowing when the subject changed, Johnny found himself pointing out the constellations as he'd learned them from his grandfather. Chet told some of the stories about the Tuatha de Danann that he could remember that were from the same grandmother that the skillet had come from.

They settled down into the tent not too long after full dark with the full intention of being up at first light for the next round of fishing. Mother Nature, however, had other plans.


	3. Chapter 3

**Part III**

As he was jostled out of his slumber, Chet's first thought was that he was a kid again sleeping in the top bunk of the bunk beds while one of his brothers drummed his feet against the board his mattress was on.

"Patrick, so help me if you don't cut it out, I'll -"

Then something hit the tent hard and Chet was suddenly fully awake. It was a sensation he recognized all too well.

"Crap! Earthquake!"

Squirming out of his sleeping bag in record time, Chet realized that he hadn't heard Johnny move. Looking over, he could see something dark on Johnny's forehead. More rocks were coming down from the hillside behind them, so he could make a fairly decent guess that Johnny had been stunned by one of them hitting the tent.

The shaking had stopped for the moment, but Chet knew the unpredictable nature of quakes better than he cared to. There was a good chance that another could come. It was still too dark to tell how unstable the slope above them was now, but they were a long way from anywhere that Chet would consider safe. Not that he really considered anywhere to be very safe when the ground took a mind to misbehave.

He decided to leave Johnny in his sleeping bag and use it to drag him further away from the hillside. Johnny was making some noises now and Chet was hoping that was a good sign. Once he had the sleeping bag into as open an area as he could manage, Chet went back to get supplies from the tent. One thing about camping with a paramedic? Chet knew without a doubt that there had to be a first aid kit inside Johnny's pack.

Trying to remember his days as a scout, Chet looked at the position of the moon and stars and made a guess that they had, at most, maybe another half hour until sunrise. The moon wasn't much more than a sliver and didn't do much to help illuminate the scene as Chet felt around in the area that he thought he'd seen Johnny put his pack. His patient search paid off finally - the pack had gotten knocked over by the tremors. Just as Chet found one of the straps and took a firm hold of it, another rumble started.

Rocks already loosened by the first quake began tumbling down. Then there was a deep ominous sound like nothing Chet had ever heard before. All of his instincts told him to move and he began scrambling as quickly as he could toward where he'd left Johnny, but the unstable ground wasn't making it easy for him. Then he felt something hit against the back of his knees and he threw the pack in front of him so that he wouldn't land on it. There was a short scream, then silence as the earth began to settle down to a non-moving solid again.

The second rumble had started bringing Johnny back to awareness, but as he held his aching head, he knew that his best option was to stay put. Especially as he had no clue where he was. That resolve to stay put ended the second he heard the scream that he knew had to have come from Chet. He was a bit dizzy, but Johnny headed in the direction the scream had come from as fast as he could manage. The sky was beginning to brighten in the East now and was starting to make seeing a little easier.

The first thing he saw in the dim light was his backpack next to a pile of dirt. To his horror, he realized that there was a hand was sticking up out of that dirt. Knowing that there was no time to waste, Johnny scrabbled the dirt away to follow the arm back to find Chet's head before he suffocated under the loose dirt. If his hand was out, the rest of him hopefully wasn't buried too deeply.

When he felt the first locks of the curly hair, Johnny shoveled the dirt away with his hands faster. It gave him partial relief when he saw that Chet's head was cradled in the crook of his left arm. Chet's instinctive move that he'd gained from trying to protect his head during ceiling collapses had served him well enough that he had given himself a small air pocket before the landslide engulfed him. When Johnny was able to get enough dirt pushed away and sweet, fresh air got through, Chet was able to take a breath in without inhaling dirt. And he continued breathing on his own, but Johnny could tell he was struggling with the weight pressing down on the back of his ribcage.

Johnny continued to work to get as much weight off of Chet's back as possible so that his breathing wouldn't be as compromised, but had to give up before reaching Chet's lower back. There was just too much weight with rocks and other debris pinning the Irishman down for Johnny to handle it on his own without any tools. Especially with his own injuries - he was relatively sure he at least had a concussion. Still, as the sky lightened up, he saw that it could have been far worse. Only a tiny part of one of the tent poles could still be seen. The rest of the tent was buried beneath hundreds of pounds of dirt and rock. If Chet hadn't gotten them both out of that tent, the two of them would have been underneath it all and very definately dead.

The enormity of it all hit Johnny harder than the rock had and his hand was shaking as he reached to check Chet's pulse. It was strong, but there was no telling how badly Chet might be damaged beneath all that dirt. He needed to be freed and gotten to a hospital, but Johnny couldn't bring himself to even think of leaving to try and find help. If the hillside shifted again, Chet wouldn't have any chance at all of survival on his own. Johnny began to look for a way to shield Chet's exposed head from the rising sun. He just had to hope that someone would come looking for them. Soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Part IV**

The tremor was felt just enough at Roy's house to rattle the windows and dishes, but it was plenty to bring the blonde paramedic awake. Joanne was stirring, but hadn't woken up, so Roy carefully slid out of bed, grabbing a robe before checking on the kids and heading downstairs to turn on the local news on the radio. He started up a pot of coffee as he waited for the report on the quake to come up.

He had just poured out a cup when the first broadcast on the tremor came up and gave the estimated location of the epicenter. Roy almost dropped his cup and, despite the early hour, he found himself dialing Captain Stanley's number. As he had expected, the tremor had woken the Captain up as well.

_"Roy? What's wrong? Everything alright at your place?"_

"Yes sir – but if the report on the radio was correct, John and Chet are within a two mile radius of the epicenter."

_"You've been to the spot before, right?"_

"Many times, Cap."

_"They can make fun of us for being worry-warts later and I hope they do, but I'm calling Mike and Marco. I'll be by your place within the hour. I don't think either of us will feel right about this until we check up on them."_

"I'll be ready."

"Ready? Ready for what?"

A sleepy voice behind Roy spoke up. The earthquake might not have woken Joanne up, but the smell of coffee had. He started pouring her a cup as he explained.

"Jo – there was a quake just a little while back and the report has it being near where John and Chet are camping. Cap's about to see if Marco and Mike want to come, then he's going to pick me up since I know the way - so we can make sure they're okay."

As she took the cup, she started frowning. It was all too easy to imagine the dangers of an earthquake in that area.

"There's a lot of really old trees around if I remember correctly. Be careful, Roy. I just hope it didn't do anything worse than wake them up early."

"That makes two of us, sweetheart."

"You get what you need to together. I'll make sandwiches and fill both of our thermoses for you to take along."

Back in the forest, the voice was so soft that for a second Johnny thought that he was imagining it. Then he saw Chet open one of his eyes and got down closer so he could hear him better.

"Hey there. Stay here with me, Chet. Quite a morning, eh?"

"Had better."

"I bet. Come on and talk to me, Chet. How is your breathing?"

"Hurts some. Kind of like that time my ribs were bruised up, only worse. Any water?"

Johnny hesitated, but reached for one of the bottles he kept in his pack.

"I hate to do this to you, Chet, but we can't really let you drink, pal. It might upset your stomach and I don't think you want to be puking where you're having to stay."

"Puke. Always with the fancy medical terms, eh John? So – can we as least get my mouth wet?"

"That I think we can manage. Easy. Baby sips. Anywhere else hurting?"

"My left ankle is on fire. How bad is it looking?"

"Be honest with you, I can't see it. You're - kind of under a lot of dirt."

"Yeah. Ironic, that."

"Ironic?"

"Not my first time under a pile of dirt and rock, John. I was actually sorta hoping this was another of those dreams, y'know? The ones that make you relive the stuff you'd rather forget? I know you're bound to have them, right? After some of the crazy stuff you and Roy have managed to pull off and live through."

"Yeah. I know the type, Chet. So what happened?"

"Artillery shell blew near me. One of those forty pounders. Or so I'm told. Can't say my memory of the event is any too clear until I woke back up. Had about four guys digging me out. Back of my left leg was a real mess - I had a raging infection before the week was out. Left leg again. Must not be my best side, huh?"

Johnny swallowed. The thought of normal sized bullets gave him the creeps. He certainly knew how much damage they could do - and they only weighed ounces. The thought of a shell that had to be weighed in pounds? He wasn't sure he wanted to even imagine the kinds of damage one of those could do. A light tug got his mind back from where it had wandered.

"You took a pretty hard hit to the head bone there. You okay, John?"

"I'll be fine. Really."

"Fine enough to walk a couple of miles?"

"Probably, but I'm not going anywhere, Chet."

Johnny angled Chet again for another small sip. Chet worked the water around his mouth again, then gave Johnny a light poke.

"John. Listen. My CO told me that I should have bought the farm over there. I've been on borrowed time for years, man."

It was hard for Johnny to process what Chet was saying. It didn't sound like he was joking, but he couldn't be serious. Right?

"You don't really believe that."

"Sure I do. You see, John? There were three of us went in at the same time. Me, Ryan and Jamie – kind of the Irish Three Musketeers. All got called up right after we graduated High School. Ryan was the athletic one, Jamie was the smart one. Know who all made it back? Me. Just me. The class clown."

"Sounds like a case of survivor's guilt there, Chet."

"Maybe. I don't know. Doesn't matter. What matters is that you need to head out of here. You can't dig me out by yourself, right? Go find some help. If I'm still kicking when you get back, I'll borrow some more time. If not? Bank was empty."

"I can't. We'll figure a way out."

"Roy's right. You're stubborn."

"No, I'm determined."

"Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe, John. Adds up to the same thing."


	5. Chapter 5

**Part V**

When Captain Stanley pulled up, Roy was glad to see that not only where Marco and Mike with him, but they had also brought with them various tools – everything from a small chainsaw to shovels. All of which the four men were hoping wouldn't need to be used.

The chainsaw proved useful when they got to the turnoff Roy knew Johnny always took. A tree was down over the road and without the chainsaw, they would have been reduced to hiking in from there, which would have made it about six miles on foot. As it was, they had to stop twice more to remove enough debris from the road to let them drive through. That alone was giving Roy a bad feeling.

When they spotted the Rover, they saw that Johnny had had at least one piece of luck. A sizable tree had hit the ground within three yards of the Rover but the vehicle was untouched.

"Knowing Johnny, he took Chet to the spot we normally camp at. We've got about two miles hiking from here. Normally the path is pretty good, but I'd have to guess we're going to be climbing over some downed limbs and maybe a tree or two."

Looking over the gear, they divided it up as best as they could, deciding that it would be better to travel slower and take what they might need rather than go a little faster and have to backtrack to get the gear.

Back at the wrecked campsite, it was fast approaching noon and Johnny was starting to have real problems with keeping Chet awake. He gave the injured man a light poke with earned him a groan followed by a slightly whiney tone.

"Honestly, John. What's it going to hurt if I go to sleep? I'm tired."

"I know you are, Chet, but who's going to keep me entertained if you doze off?"

Chet gave Johnny a slightly dirty look, but then an amused smirk formed.

"Never happy. Most of the time, you're telling me to shut up."

"Well, right now, I prefer you talking. Here – baby sip."

"For pity's sake, John, I know. No gulping."

"Easy, Chet. I'm sorry. I'm probably repeating myself. I have a tendency to do that after I dent my head."

A soft sigh came from the trapped man.

"I'm sorry, too, John. I know you took a hard hit. This all just – really sucks, y'know?"

"I know. I know. So – how about you tell me about you? Your mom was really nice when I met her."

"Oh yeah. But as the saying goes, that red hair of hers doesn't lie. Mom has a temper. It a wonder any of us boys still have hair left. When we'd misbehave, she'd grab a handful to make sure she had our full, undivided attention. Let me tell you, curly hair really gave her something to grip. Guess she had to be that way though. She had her hands full after Dad died."

"How many of you are there?"

"Four of us. Three boys, one girl. I'm the middle boy."

"So - how did you end up being the class clown?"

"I'm not particularly athletic or bright, so why not?"

"You keep doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Knocking your intelligence."

"Give me a break, John. You call me an idiot all the time."

"I don't mean it in that way. You **act** like an idiot, sure – but you're smart."

"Not really. I mean, I've got what Mom calls 'horse sense' in that I'm good at figuring things out from looking at them, but book stuff? I got through school by the skin of my teeth and the fear of my mom. Heck, when I placed seventy-four on the engineer's exam? I wanted to celebrate doing that well – but I knew you guys would think I'm crazier than you already do if I'd said I was proud of that score. But I am proud of it. I suck at tests. Always have. Good thing I really like being a lineman."

Johnny gave Chet another small sip, but his mind was churning. He and Roy's son, Chris, talked fairly often and one thing that usually came up was school. Their conversation about one of the guys in Chris's class was sounding awfully familiar.

"Chet? Do you have trouble reading?"

"So, first you say I'm smart, then you think I'm illiterate?"

"I didn't mean it that way. I mean – well, do you get headaches when you read?"

"Yeah. Doesn't everybody? Eye strain and all that."

"No, not everybody. But I've been checking into some stuff that Chris has been asking me about. After we get out of here, I'd like you to consider talking to one of the docs I've been speaking with."

"I'm beginning to think I'm the one that got hit in the head. You're not making sense to me, John. I know I need to see a -"

Chet breaking off in mid-sentence grabbed Johnny's attention and drove the other thoughts from his mind. Chet's expression was pained and his breathing had gone ragged. Quickly examining him, Johnny noticed the shudder running through Chet's body as sweat broke out. Reaching to test the pulse again, Johnny was practically begging.

"No. No, no, no - don't do this. Please don't do this, Chet."

But this time, Johnny didn't get an answer.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part VI**

Johnny hated the helpless feeling that was practically drowning him as Chet slipped into deeper shock. There were so many things that could be causing it - and nothing he could do about any of them. Then a noise caused his head to snap up and in the still, he listened harder. Breaking branches. Could be an animal. Probably was an animal. Still?

Taking a deep breath, Johnny yelled out as loudly as he could.

"Hey! Anyone there?"

Two beats later, he heard a sound he hadn't dared to hope for.

"Johnny?"

"Roy! Over here! We need help!"

"Hang tight - we're almost there!"

When Roy said 'we', Johnny felt a momentary wave of relief. He left his hand on Chet, speaking to the unconscious man.

"Your time account's not empty yet, Chester. Hang on."

Roy's first glance of what was left of the hillside put his heart into his throat. Catching sight of Johnny and Chet didn't improve that feeling in the least. With no mirrored surface in the area, Johnny had no idea how bad he looked himself, but his wide grin showed that his spirits were at least in good shape when he saw that it was all four of their crewmates coming.

"Man, you don't know how happy I am to see you guys. We've got to get Chet out."

The dried blood and livid bruising on Johnny's forehead was filed aside in Roy's mind as something to be dealt with later. Still, he didn't want Johnny straining himself when he had unknown injuries, so Roy did some fast thinking.

"John - you stay by Chet's head. Make sure his airway stays clear of dirt and keep check of his pulse while we try and clear everything off of him. Any injuries we need to be watching for that you suspect?"

Giving Johnny something to do worked and he settled back down near Chet's head as he ran his mind over what Chet had said his condition.

"Uhm - yeah. Chet said his left ankle felt like it was on fire. From the way he yelled when he went down, I'd about be willing to bet something's broken. His ribs were paining him too. When I got to him after the tremor, he was totally covered except for his right hand. I didn't have to resuscitate him though. He'd protected his head with his left arm and was breathing on his own when I got the dirt off his head. I shoved a lot of weight off his back, so bruised or cracked ribs are also highly likely."

He brushed a little more of the dirt out of Chet's hair,

"He was knocked out by the slide, but he revived after he got some fresh air. And he was conscious until just before I heard you guys and yelled."

Looking around as they laid down their gear to pick out what was needed first, Marco spotted Johnny's sleeping bag.

"You guys were just sleeping under the stars?"

Shaking his head, Johnny just pointed to the small amount of pole still visible above the dirt.

"That's one of the tent poles. My tent's beneath that mound. Chet pulled me out before the hillside gave way."

All four men stared at that bit of pole for a second, then grabbed the shovels. Other than Johnny speaking to Chet, there was no other talk after that as the four began the work of digging their friend out. It went slower than they liked but they needed to be careful to stand to the side so they wouldn't accidently put more weight on the trapped man. When they could estimate they were over halfway there, Roy paused.

"Cap, you have a CB in your truck. Why don't you head back to where we parked and get an ambulance on the way? We need to get Chet to a hospital as fast as we can once we get him out."

"Right. I'll be back as quick as I can, fellows."

Pausing just long enough to take a look at Chet and give Johnny's shoulder a quick reassuring squeeze, Hank headed back the way they'd come, wondering if he would be able to get a helicopter medivac. If Chet's condition was as bad as Johnny and Roy's expressions were telling him it was, being carried out by hand for two miles might be too much for his lineman.

As they got closer to getting Chet's lower legs uncovered, Roy had to watch his own impatience and not pull on him at all. Until they could tell the extent of his injuries, it would be best to leave Chet lying as still as possible. When Marco uncovered Chet's left leg and took a sharp intake of air, Roy knew that they'd made the right choice. There was bone protruding from the flesh just above Chet's ankle. The wound was, of course, filthy, but not bleeding very much. Much as he hated to, Roy made the choice not to attempt to clean it out. The dirt mixed with blood packed in at the wound could well be what was keeping Chet's blood loss from being any worse than it was. They had no way to know how long it would take to get Chet to a hospital and with no fluids to give, avoiding causing any more bleeding seemed the best option.

Roy was in the process of immobilizing the lower leg area as best as he could with the materials at hand when Hank came back.

"We should have a medical helicopter here in a few minutes. John? Pass your keys over to Mike and we'll get your Rover out of here. I want you and Roy to ride in with Chet. How is he doing, Roy?"

"Compound fracture of the lower tibia, possible rib fractures. I'm glad a helicopter's coming, for his sake. I just wish I could give Rampart a heads up."

"I managed to get a message relayed to Chief McConakee. They might not have the details, but Rampart knows that three of you are coming."


	7. Chapter 7

**Part VII**

Head Nurse Dixie McCall and Dr. Mike Morton were the two that went to meet the helicopter. All they knew was that there were two victims that had been caught in a landslide caused by the morning's quake. The first recognizable face Dixie saw was Roy's as he was keeping a close eyes on whoever was in the stokes, which meant the back facing her most likely belonged to Johnny. Seeing only one stokes, she wondered who the second victim was - until Johnny turned his head and she got her first good look at him.

It was never a pleasant surprise to find out incoming wounded were friends. Dr. Morton kept his professional demeanor in place for the most part, but even he winced at his first good look at Chet's leg.

"Dixie, get a call to orthopedics and x-ray. Then call Kel and see if he can check Johnny over while we're with Kelly. Come on, let's get these men inside pronto."

Johnny's first reaction was to deny he needed to see anyone until he knew how Chet was. He was overwhelmingly outvoted by Roy, Dixie and Morton though and found himself loaded into a wheelchair despite his protests.

Dr. Brackett reached the treatment room about the same time as Johnny did. It didn't take him long to find he had a disgruntled patient on his hands.

"John – the sooner you settle down and let me do what I need to do, the sooner I'll let you out of here so you can check on Kelly. Understand?"

Dixie stuck her head in just a couple of moments later.

"Chet's being taken into surgery, tiger. The rest of the guys are on their way and Roy's in the waiting room."

Then noticing Kel's frustration, Dixie came the rest of the way in, taking Johnny's hand.

"Do you remember what happened, Johnny? You and Chet were the only ones there, right?"

"Yeah. I've got to go back and get Chet's pan."

Dixie's eyes flickered up and met Kel's. He looked as puzzled by that comment as she was.

"Pan?"

"Old cast iron skillet. You know between it and its lid that thing weighs about thirty pounds?"

"Pretty hefty."

"Yeah. I kind of thought Chet was crazy for lugging around something that weighed that much. He says its older than he is."

The ramblings coming out of Johnny were starting to make sense now.

"So – he brought that pan for your fish fry?"

"Yeah. It's under all that dirt somewhere. Dr. Brackett? Could you ask Dr. Riker to look in on Chet?"

"You mean Dr. Riker over in pediatrics?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

"Tiger, I know Chet can act a bit young, but don't you think he a little old to be seeing a pediatrician?"

Dixie finally got a grin from the young paramedic.

"Yes and no. I've been talking to Dr. Riker about learning problems. I was trying to keep Chet talking while he was trapped and – you don't think Chet is stupid, do you?"

"No. A little immature, but hardly the only man I know that suffers from that."

"Well, Chet thinks he's stupid. I think he might be dyslexic."

"Hm. Well, even assuming that you might be right, what do you think Dr. Riker could do for him?"

"Well, you know how we have to test for promotions at the Department? Chet says he never has been able to take a test well. Maybe . . . ow!"

Johnny flinched as Dr. Brackett hit an especially tender spot, then drew a deep breath as he tried to organize his thoughts.

"My head aches and I might not be saying this right, but wouldn't it make sense that he might do better at a test if he wasn't going into it thinking he's too stupid to get it right?"

Squeezing Johnny's hand slightly, Dixie nodded.

"That makes perfect sense to me, Johnny. And besides, Dr. Riker might be able to give him some suggestions on how to cope with it better."

She narrowed her eyes at Kel, who was giving her a skeptical look.

"Okay, so he's older than the rest of Dr. Riker's patients, but Frank Riker has made the study of learning problems his life's work. What would it hurt to ask him?"

"I know when I'm outnumbered. Fine. I'll ask him. If nothing else, it might give Kelly something constructive to do while he's recovering. I'm going to be numbing this area, John. I think it will heal better with a couple of stitches."

Dixie gave Johnny's hand another squeeze to distract him.

"You've been jumping around a bit mentally, Johnny. Why don't you tell us what happened?"

"Well, I really don't know what happened to begin with. I mean, we set up camp, fished, ate dinner, told a few stories and settled down in the tent. Next thing I remember, I'm still in my sleeping bag, but I'm out of the tent and my head is killing me. Then I realize that everything is sort of bouncing and I fully woke up as I figured out it was an earthquake. I didn't exactly know where I was, only that it had to have been Chet that got me there, so I decided the best thing to do would be to stay put until my head cleared. But then I heard Chet scream and I had to see if he was okay."

Johnny's grip tightened slightly on Dixie's hand.

"All I saw at first was his hand sticking out of a pile of dirt and my first thought was that he was dead, but I started scrambling the dirt off of him. You know he told me that he'd been buried alive before? Man, that's creepy. So – I mean, he's got this whole thing going on thinking he's on borrowed time from the first time that happened and that it doesn't really matter because he's not that bright. You know, he teases me all of the time about stuff, but when he talks down on himself, he's not teasing then. He's serious."

"When was Kelly buried before?"

"When he was in Vietnam. He said his left leg got messed up pretty bad then too."

"Hm. I think I'll call up and give them a warning that they might have to look out for old scar tissue. Well, stitches are in. I'll let you get into a wheelchair and join the others if you promise to stay in it. You're going to be here at least overnight for observation."

"Alright. I'll behave."

Dr. Brackett took that with a grain of salt knowing that Johnny would probably also agree to wear pink polka-dotted pajamas in order to get up to await word on Chet's condition. Giving his head a shake, he spoke to Dix before going to make his call.

"See if you can keep him out of trouble."

A slightly wicked smile graced Dixie's face.

"No problem at all, Kel. I'm going to turn him over to Hank."


	8. Chapter 8

**Part VIII**

Johnny and Roy were still waiting for Chet to come out of surgery when Hank, Mike and Marco arrived. Johnny had already confided his suspicions to Roy, who thought the concern was valid enough to share with the rest of the crew. To their surprise, Johnny had just been about to start talking to the others about it when Dr. Riker came in.

"Hello, John. Kel told me you had someone you were wanting me to talk to after he's in recovery, so I thought I'd ask for a few details if you feel up to it."

"Sure thing. Uhm - all of us here are in the same crew. Guys, this is Dr. Riker. He's part of what I wnted to talk to you about regarding Chet. Dr. Riker, this is Captain Stanley, Roy DeSoto, Miko Stoker and Marco Lopez."

"Nice to meet you all. DeSoto? Chris DeSoto's father?"

"That would be me. That's why your name sounds familiar. You're the one helping Chris's study buddy."

"Quite right. Now, since you all work together, can we just talk openly?"

As they all nodded, Dr. Riker settled into one of the chairs before Johnny began to go over a few of the things Chet had talked about. He only brought up the parts that made him think that Chet might have an actual problem. Roy noted their other crewmates seeming to get fidgety as the talk nearer the end.

Marco cleared his throat after Johnny finished.

"You know last time when Chet was hunched over the books studying for the engineer test? He kept complaining about all the words running together on him."

Mike nodded in agreement.

"I remember he made a crack about the print moving around on him, but I thought he was just making a joke."

"I see. That makes me think that John might well be right then. The way material is printed out can make a big difference, but a common complaint with some versions of dyslexia is that letters move, swirl, run together, blur or even seem to float off of the page. And the problem isn't with their eyesight."

Hank was listening to all of that with a small frown, thinking back over the years with Chet. Chet watched television, he invented pranks, he sat on the couch and lavished Henry with attention, but rarely had Hank seen Chet with reading material in hand unless it was study material or a newspaper. Should it have been obvious to him?

"Sounds like it would make reading kind of like torture."

"Well, maybe not that bad, but it's definitely frustrating. But once someone understands it's something they can work around - that it doesn't mean they're aren't intelligent, it can become much easier. One example I like to use with the kids is to first see if they're left or right handed. Just because someone writes with their left hand doesn't mean they aren't just as smart as the right-handed child. They just have to do things with the other hand. Same with folks with dyslexia. It isn't that something is wrong with them, they just do some things differently."

Roy had been watching the door and his body language shifted. That was enough to grab everyone's attention as Morton and Brackett came through the door together. Dr. Brackett spoke first.

"I know it must have been difficult dealing with this out in the field with not even your usual basics, but I can't think of a thing I would have told you to do differently. Good job out there."

He looked to Dr. Morton as he finished.

"Kelly is out of surgery and we're waiting for hm to wake up from the anesthesia. They had to do some vascular repairs and, because of the soft tissue damage, they had to brace the bone from the outside. Once the soft tissue wounds have healed, he'll go into a regular cast. It won't be a fast recovery, but the orthopedic surgeon seemed satisfied that we should be looking at a full recovery. He's going to be on a strong series of antibodics to ward off anything he might have picked up from all that dirt."

Once Morton finished, Brackett spoke up again.

"And since I know what your next question is going to be, once we've made sure that Kelly's not having any negative effects from his surgery, we'll be moving him into the same room we're about to put John in. I expect you'll be able to see him in about an hour, so why don't you make your calls and get something to eat in the meantime?"

Roy caught the disgruntled look on Johnny's face.

"Dr. Brackett? Is Johnny on any diet restriction?"

"No, he's not."

"Tell me what you want me to bring you back, Junior."

"A sub sandwich would be great."

"A cold sandwich? You sure?"

"Yeah. I might not have a diet restriction, but I bet Chet does."

A nod from Dr. Morton confirmed that.

"I'm only here for overnight, Roy. I'll manage."


	9. Chapter 9

**Part IX**

Dixie wheeled Johnny to the room where he'd be overnight.

"I don't know how many external bone braces you've seen, tiger, but they look like a torture device. It's the best way to deal with the type of injury Chet has though. You'll be in here with him the most today, so don't let him mess with it."

"I don't think you'll have any worries there, Dix. Chet will follow orders."

"I'm not worried about him deliberately tinkering with it, Johnny. More a case of worrying about him doing something when the pain medication has a hold on him and he's not thinking too clearly."

"Oooh – gotcha, Dix. Like the keeping folks from scratching their stitches when they're half-awake."

"Bingo. Speaking of, I'd better go check on him. He may be ready to come down by now."

Johnny was steady enough that Dixie trusted him to get into his hospital bed by himself as she headed to the recovery area of surgery. Chet's eyes were open, but not particularly focused on anything as she walked over to his bedside.

"Hey there. How are you doing?"

Chet looked at her, then down at his leg.

"Okay I guess. But I think some kid is missing his erector set."

Smirking at that, Dixie checked his vitals. Satisfied, she nodded and moved up to gently ruffle the curly hair.

"So, ready to leave this scenic room to go to another scenic room? Johnny's waiting. He's pretty anxious to see how you're doing."

"He okay? I never got a good look at where that rock nailed him, but it was getting pretty colorful last I remember."

"We'll be keeping him overnight to keep an eye on him, but Johnny's fine. You're going to be fine as well. Johnny only remembered so much about what happened. Could you fill in the gaps?"

"Sure, I can try. I woke up thinking I was back in bunk beds again. Ever been in the top bunk when someone decided to pound on your mattress support from underneath? That's what I thought it was at first, then something hit the tent and that woke me up fast, let me tell you. I got out of my sleeping bag before I noticed John wasn't moving. It was pretty dim, but I could see a dark place on his forehead and figured he must've gotten clonked with a rock. I grabbed the edges of his sleeping bag around his shoulders and drug him out."

Pausing to wet his dry lips, Chet was grateful when Dixie grabbed a pitcher and poured him some water.

"One thing about John and Roy, they always carry some basic first aid stuff, so I went to grab John's pack because I figured that was where he would have stuffed it. I'd just found the backpack when everything started shaking again. I don't remember much past that other than Johnny talking to me. And the dirt pressing down."

"Johnny tells me you served in Vietnam?"

Nodding, Chet gave his left leg another look.

"I was in Korea myself. M*A*S*H unit."

That distracted Chet from staring at the metal and he gave her a grin.

"No wonder you can keep these docs in line."

"And patients too – don't you forget that."

"No, ma'am – I won't."

"Come on, smart-aleck. Let's let you and Johnny entertain each other. Some of us have work to do."

Once she got Chet into the room with the assistance of an orderly, Dixie gave out the instructions on precautions with the bracing on his left leg, pitched loudly enough for Johnny to hear without him needing to come closer.

"You've got water on your table, Chet, but take it slowly. You might still experience some nausea for awhile. I'll be back to check on the two of you shortly, so behave."

It was quiet for a minute as the door shut behind Dixie. He took a long look at the metal surrounding Chet's lower leg and could see where the stabilizing pins ran through his skin.

"How are you doing, Chet?"

"Not great, I guess, but a heckuva lot better than I was. Hey – thanks."

"We were both pretty lucky that the guys decided that they were going to check on us instead of waiting to hear from us."

"Is that what happened? Man – I don't remember a thing other than you poking me and talking. All four of them came looking for us?"

"And found us. Cap even managed to get you a lift here in a helicopter."

"I looked that bad, huh?"

Johnny couldn't see any reason to lie about it.

"Yep. You'd slipped into shock on me. Made me age a good ten years there, Chet."

"You can thank me later."

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Now you can call Roy 'Junior'."

Letting his head sink back down on his pillow, Johnny groaned.

"I walked into that one, didn't I?"

"You always do. I couldn't ask for a better straight man."

"Chet? I talked with that doc I mentioned to you. I don't know if you even remember what we talked about."

"I'm a little fuzzy on details to be honest."

A noise at the door interrupted anything else as the other four were at the door. Captain Stanley spoke first.

"We won't be here long. Dixie's already laid down the law about letting you guys rest, but we wanted to get a look at you before we left, Chet."

"Chet? I spoke to my mom. Soon as the doctors say you can have it, she's going to whip you up a good meal."

"Tell her thanks for me, Marco. You know I love her cooking."

Roy discreetly laid the sandwich down on Johnny's table while Chet was talking to Marco as Johnny gave his partner a grateful grin. Odds were that Chet would be getting some additional pain medication soon and he'd eat after Chet went to sleep.

As if she'd heard his thoughts, Dixie swept in.

"Alright, men. Chet's due for some medicine and they're both due for some rest. Go get some yourselves. If I see any of you back before breakfast, I will personally kick you out."

There was no protest as everyone quietly bid the two that were remaining good night and made their way out.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part X**

As Johnny suspected would be the case, Chet was sound asleep shortly after his medication was administered and he ate his sandwich then. The sandwich wasn't bad, but he was already looking forward to getting out. There was something about the air inside of a hospital that seemed to add something unpleasant to the taste of food.

Even as he looked forward to the fact that his stay was going to be short, part of him was feeling guilty because Chet would still be stuck until they made sure they had any infections under control. He knew from his own past experiences how disheartening it was when everyone else had been released, but he still remained. No wonder Roy always looked torn when he was getting discharged.

He found himself watching Chet sleep and as time passed, his thoughts wandered and Johnny started frowning. How **did** Chet end up hurt, anyway? Chet had pulled him out of harm's way, so Chet had to have been out of harm's way himself. So what had happened? Chet must have gone back to the tent for some reason. Why?

Johnny was still brooding over that question when Dixie came back in to check on them. She went over to Chet first, looking over his leg and checking his pulse. Satisfied that Chet seemed to be sleeping as comfortably as could reasonably be expected, she made her way over to Johnny, smiling fading just a touch at his expression as she automatically did a rough check for fever.

"What's wrong, John? Food disagree with you?"

"No. I just can't figure it, Dix. Chet was away from the tent and the hillside. Why did he go back? What could possibly have been so darn important that he had to go back?"

Moving closer over to Johnny's side, Dixie reached up and smoothed his bangs off of his forehead.

"**You** were that important, John. Chet knew you were hurt and he also knew that you always bring a first aid kit with you. He went back after your pack to get it. And don't even think of starting to feel guilty over that. Chet told me all about it. The ground wasn't shaking when he went looking. It was just bad luck that another tremor hit before he was able to get back to you with the pack."

She watched as he opened his mouth then closed it again, before he spoke in a hoarse whisper.

"That's how I spotted him. I saw my pack on the ground and then I saw his hand sticking out of the dirt not far from it."

Dixie settled herself on his bed, taking Johnny's hand again as she filled him in on what Chet had remembered of what had happened in those early morning hours.

"The things that caused you guys to get injured were out of your control. You were asleep when that rock hit you and everything was calm when Chet moved to go find your pack. The things that you could and did control? Chet did what he was able to do to tend to you when you were down - you did the same for Chet when he was trapped. Because of that, both of you will walk out of here. Not on the same day, but you will leave here and return to your jobs."

Giving his hand a light squeeze, Dixie sighed.

"Besides, I'm already having to talk your occasionally thick headed partner out of his guilt trip. Honestly, the pair of you should get discount rates as many of those trips as you take."

Johnny's forehead wrinkled in thought as he tried to work that one out.

"Roy? Why would Roy feel - wait. You mean that big dope is feeling responsible because he suggested Chet and I might enjoy fishing together?"

"Right on the first guess. Congratulations."

"How could he - I mean, there's just - why does he - man, I've got to - geeze, Dix."

An amused voice came from the doorway.

"I almost followed that. I've known you too long, John."

Dr. Brackett came over to examine Johnny's stitches.

"How's the pain level? Need anything?"

"I'd prefer to stick with just Tylenol if I can. The other stuff always tears my stomach up."

"Alright, we'll go with that, but if I find you aren't resting later, we'll go with something stronger."

Walking over to the other bed, Dr. Brackett slowly looked over Chet's left leg before nodding to himself.

"He's been sleeping every since his last medication, doc. Is that normal?"

"Well, we have him on some pretty strong pain medication today, so yes. We want him to mostly rest right now. Give his body a chance to catch its breath after all the trauma it went through. We'll start slowly cutting back the strength before long."

Johnny just nodded, as much to himself as to Brackett. He needed to have a talk with Chet the next time he woke up so that he wouldn't be taken off-guard when Dr. Riker came to see him.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part XI**

It was fairly late when the sounds coming from Chet woke Johnny from the light sleep he'd been in. He got up carefully and headed over to the other bed. Chet's eyes were open, but it was fairly plain that he was still trying to piece together where he was.

"Evening there, pal. You remember where you are and how you got here?"

That got an immediate groan.

"I'm going to be asked that a lot, aren't I? Man - worst part of being in the hospital. Well, except for the food."

He took in a deep breath and began rattling off the questions they always seemed to ask anytime he'd been out for awhile.

"Chet Kelly. I'm assuming I'm at Rampart. There was an earthquake - and, um . . . I'm not really clear how long ago that was."

"We're closing in on that being twenty-four hours ago, Chester."

"Freaky, man. I would have thought it was a lot longer ago. My leg looks like I stepped on some prop from a bad horror movie and it stuck to me."

"Yeah, we could probably hook up a radio to it and get pretty good reception. Chet? We kept getting interrupted, but I wanted to let you know Dr. Riker would probably be by and see you tomorrow."

"Okay - maybe I've asked this before, but bear with me. Why?"

"Just some of the stuff you talked about. You know - tests being hard all that."

A frown formed, then Chet gave Johnny a sidelong look.

"Don't tell me they have doctors for that?"

"Well, no. Not really. He works with kids that have learning problems."

"I hate to break this to you, John, but I'm a bit old to be in the kid category."

"I know. What could it hurt?"

"Kind of embarrassing, but - sure. I guess we can talk. Not like I've got a hot date. And even if I did, I'd have to cancel it."

Eyes going back down to his leg, Chet finally looked back to Johnny.

"So? What is this thing and why am I in it?"

"In a nutshell, it's something to keep your bones in line while your other injuries heal. You had a compound fracture - you know where the bone -"

"I know what it means, John. Just thinking about that makes my stomach churn, so let's not talk about the details, okay?"

"No details then. Just keep your hands clear of your leg. Once the rest of it is healed, they'll get you into a normal cast."

"Never thought I'd look forward to that before."

The edge that had crept into Chet's voice didn't escape Johnny's attention.

"Hey - time for some pain medication there?"

"Yeah, I hate that stuff, but I think so. You'll probably be gone before I wake up again, so just wanted to tell you, I enjoyed the trip. The first part of it any way."

Johnny just grinned as he hit the nurse call button.

"We'll have to try that again minus the earthquake."

"If we go fishing again and there is another earthquake? Don't take it personally if I give up fishing. I'll take it as a sign that I need a new hobby."

Chuckling, Johnny gave Chet's arm a pat.

"No worries there, buddy. I might be likely to think of it in the same way."

The night shift nurse came in just a couple of minutes later with a shot for Chet and Johnny's next round of pills. She fussed a bit at Johnny for being out of bed - which Johnny pretty much cheerfully ignored as he continued to stay next to Chet, chatting until he was sure by his breathing rhythms that Chet had fallen back into a deep sleep. At which time, he made his way back to his own bed.

Johnny fell into a deep sleep himself - deep enough that Dr. Brackett coming in for his morning rounds was the one to wake him up.

"I suppose I don't have to ask if you got any sleep at all, but the nurse noted that you were up for awhile last night."

"Not very long. I woke when Chet woke and stayed up talking with him until he fell back asleep is all."

Dr. Brackett continued talking to Johnny as he moved over to take a look at Chet.

"How was Chet last night?"

"Alright. The brace kind of freaked him a bit, I think, but he didn't mess with it any."

"Low-grade fever this morning. Hm - I'll keep an eye on that. We might need to adjust the antibiotics we're giving him. So - Roy will likely be here any time now. You about ready to get out of here, Johnny?"

"I guess . . ."

The comment about the fever worried him some, but there wasn't any reason he couldn't go with Roy, grab a shower to get rid of some of the 'hospital' smell and then come back. Dr. Brackett gave him the discharge papers to sign and also handed him the standard, but unnecessary instructions on caring for his stitches as well as when they could come out.

"No need of you to come in here for that unless you just happen to be here any way. Roy could do that for you as well as we can."

"Thanks. Tell Chet when he wakes back up that we'll be back later to check on him."

"Will do. Ah - here's Roy. Now get out of here, hose jockey."

Johnny was very pleased to see that Roy had brought him a change of clothing and went into the bathroom to change as Dr. Brackett called in a nurse and gave orders about having blood drawn on Chet.

The look that Johnny had on his face when he exited the bathroom was one that Roy knew well. He'd seen it on his own face in the mirror on more than one occasion.

"Come on, Junior. Let's go get some food in you and let you clean up some. We'll be back to check up on Chet."


	12. Chapter 12

**Part XII**

Johnny and Roy made it back to Rampart in the early afternoon to find Mike sitting near Chet. Chet gave them a slightly loopy wave which made both of them chuckle. It obviously hadn't been too long since Chet had been given pain medication. The bemused look that Mike gave them over his shoulder confirmed that.

"If you think his stories are bad when he's sober, they're even worse when he's somewhere in the upper atmosphere."

Roy gave Mike a grin.

"Heard a few tall ones, have you?"

Then he leaned a little closer to get a good look at Chet - who broke into what sounded suspiciously like giggling.

"Not feeling any pain at the moment, Chet?"

"Me? Nope. Not me. Nope, no, no - uhm - what was the question?"

Johnny shook his head, trying not to laugh, because it wasn't really funny. Well, it was, but shouldn't have been.

"Hey, John. Saw your kiddy doc."

"Oh? How did that go?"

Chet made a 'so-so' gesture with one hand.

"We talked and maybe I am and maybe I'm not. It would take a lot of tests - but that doesn't seem to be worth it, y'know? Even if I am, not like there's a cure. But he's going to show me some stuff that helps some of the kids with their reading. Couldn't hurt right?'

"Right - couldn't hurt."

Movement at the door drew their attention and Dixie came in, smiling.

"I see you boys are letting Mister Happy here entertain you."

Roy had grown a bit more sober about it after giving it some thought.

"Dix? Why the heavier duty stuff? What's wrong?"

She hesitated - which got Mike and Johnny's attention. Then she sighed.

"Just trying to get him comfortably numb. There's a pocket of infection they need to drain and clean out. Kel was halfway expecting something to crop up with the amount of contamination at the wound site, so it was caught early. Shouldn't slow his recovery down at all, but the sensation isn't going to be pleasant."

Mike was apparently working Dixie's words over in his mind before speaking.

"How long of a recovery is Chet looking at?"

"Probably at least four months. I know that sounds like a long time, but for the type of injury he's had, that's pretty good. I've seen some that take considerably longer. The break wasn't too complicated, plus you and the rest of the crew did everything right and didn't aggravate it. Also Chet was in good health before the accident and that helps a lot."

"Hey - I'm still here. At least I'm pretty sure I am. You can see me, right Roy?"

"Yes, Chet - I can see you just fine."

"Darn. Woulda been cool to be invisible. Ut-oh . . ."

All four of them recognized the tinge that Chet's skin had taken and they all moved. Roy got his hands on a basin first and managed to get it into position just as the nausea took control over Chet. Mike helped brace Chet up until it passed. Dixie hurried to get a cool cloth to wipe his face with as Johnny got some water into a cup for Chet to rinse his mouth with.

Once the heaves had stopped, Chet just gave Dixie a pitiful look.

"Okay - I am over any liking of this medicine. I don't like feeling goofy and I really don't like the puking."

She waited until Johnny offered him the water and Chet had swirled it around spit it out into the basin that Roy then took into the bathroom to empty. Then she washed his face off gently as she spoke soothingly.

"I know, honey. We'll get you onto the one that's kinder to your stomach as soon as they tend to your ankle."

Dr. Brackett came in and studied the group huddled around Kelly.

"Just coming in to see if we were about ready. Is there a problem?"

Dixie glanced over her shoulder.

"Medication started a bout of nausea."

"Hm - let's get an anti-emetic in him before we get started then."

Chet reached out a hand to Mike, who took it.

"What is it, buddy?"

"You guys going to stay around?"

"I'll be here when you get back, Chet."

"Good. Mike? Do me a big favor?"

"Sure, Chet. What?"

With his free hand, Chet made a vague gesture toward the two paramedics.

"Those bozos over there start doing something dumb like trying to take blame again? Nail 'em with a water balloon for me, 'kay?"

Johnny and Roy responded in almost perfect unison.

"Hey!"

Chet relaxed back, snickering. Smirking, Mike gave his friend's hand a slight squeeze that was returned. The two paramedics were a combination of amused and embarrassed as Dixie and Brackett wholeheartedly backed Chet's sentiment,

As the orderlies came in and got ready to take Chet off for his treatment, Dixie hung back, motioning for the three firefighters to stay with her.

"Chet's got a long and probably painful recovery ahead. I know everyone has lives of their own, but it will make a huge difference if you're all there for him."

"We will be, Dix."

Roy and Mike both nodded in agreement to Johnny's words.

"Good. Then I won't have to kick anyone's behind."


	13. Chapter 13

**Part XIII**

Since Chet was going to be out for an extended amount of time, another lineman had to be brought in to cover. They were given a new man fresh out of initial training, one Brent Thomas. For a boot, he was pretty cocky and scarcely a day went by when either Captain Stanley or Marco weren't trying hard not to roll their eyes at the man. His constant flippant responses to correction was starting to make it look like he was going to beat Chet's record at consecutive days pulling latrine duty.

Chet's wounds had been healing well until it was the evening before Chet was going to finally have the external brace removed and replaced with a plaster cast for the next stage of healing. He was watching a bit of television when he heard the door and turned to look at a man he didn't recognize.

"Hi. You Chester Kelly?"

"That's me. Have we met?"

The young man walked in and offered his hand.

"No, sir. Not yet. I'm Brent Thomas. I replaced you at 51."

Chet took Brent's hand, but his smile faltered at the way the man phrased that.

"Oh, so you're the one filling in for me?"

"Nope, not filling in. I'm going to be assigned at Station 51 from now on. Say, have they told you yet what station you'll be going to when you get out or are they waiting to see if you're permanently crippled?"

Chet hadn't even thought that he might not return back to 51, so Brent's matter-of-fact speaking of it as it was fact floored him. Especially his casual use of the word 'crippled'. Had Gage or DeSoto said something around this kid that they were avoiding saying around him? He finally found his voice.

"No. Nobody's mentioned anything yet."

"Oh. Well, I don't guess that's surprising since you might not be able to return to the department. What have you done besides firefighting?"

Before Chet could even start to come up with anything to say to that, Dixie came in. She hadn't heard anything that had been said, but she didn't like the expression she was seeing on Chet's face and decided that whoever this man was, he was upsetting her patient.

"Visiting hours are over, gentlemen. You need to get some rest, Chet. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"I just wanted to drop in for a minute any way. Good luck, Mister Kelly."

Coming over to the bed as the young man left, Dixie gave Chet a smile that didn't get returned. That concerned her more than the expression had.

"Chet? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah. Fine, Dixie. I'm just tired is all."

Turning off the television, he didn't attempt any further conversation with Dixie, just answering any questions she asked in as few words as possible. Putting it down to a case of nerves over the next day, Dixie didn't let it concern her too badly.

She began to get more concerned the next day when Chet's mood remained down and he barely ate. His reaction when she asked if he wanted anyone from the station to come over only added to the puzzle.

"No. But thanks, Dixie."

Later that morning, Marco dropped in to see Chet and was taken aback at how different Chet was from just three days ago when he'd last seen his friend. It was hard to describe, but it was almost like he'd shrunk somehow. Marco broke into a smile and tried to speak brightly to lighten the mood.

"Hey, amigo. Feel better now that you're about to get rid of all that metal?"

"I guess. So - how's my replacement doing? He have your back?"

Truth be told, Marco had serious qualms about trusting his back to Thomas, but he didn't want Chet to be worried over things like that. Nothing Chet could do to help that, after all, so he decided a white lie wouldn't hurt anything and he continued to speak in the same upbeat fashion.

"Oh sure. Brent is young, but he's a quick study. We're all getting along alright - miss having you around, though. They say yet when you'll be getting out of here?"

"No, not yet."

Marco had never had such a difficult time in getting Chet to talk - getting him to shut up was usually the trick. But he thought that maybe Chet's leg was paining him. He knew he never felt too chatty himself when he'd had something broken, but he stayed and sat with Chet until Dr. Morton arrived to start getting ready to take care of Chet's leg.

"I'll head out now, Chet. Call if you need anything."

"Sure, Marco. Thanks."

After leaving Chet's room, Marco headed to the nurses station, but found that Dixie wasn't on duty. Marco didn't feel comfortable talking with anyone else about Chet, so he headed back home. But the somber, quiet mood Chet was in worried him.

When Dr. Morton came in to start the localized numbing on Chet's leg, his patient's unusual quietness also seemed odd to him, but he didn't know Chet as well as he did some of the other firemen and tucked the observation away as something to ask Dixie about later. The procedure for removing the brace and then replacing it with a standard cast was time consuming, but Chet didn't complain throughout the session, just listening and nodding as needed to show that he was listening to directions.

"There. We need to give the cast some time to dry, then we'll start getting you up and around on crutches. If everything goes as expected, we'll look into releasing you tomorrow."

"Thanks, doc."

Now that it was all over, Chet just wanted to lie back, sleep and forget everything for a little while. Dr. Morton watched for a moment as he settled down, then left the room, nodding to the young man that was about to enter Chet's room.

Chet fought back a wince when he saw that it was Thomas again and forced a faint smile. Wasn't the kid's fault.

"Hello again, Thomas."

"Hello, Mister Kelly. Hey - I see you've gotten rid of the weird metal cast."

"Yeah. Back to run of the mill plaster for me. Everything going alright at the Station?"

"Everything's great. I'm glad I've been assigned there. Do you have a preference for where you go to next?"

The thought of being forced to a new station made him nauseous again, but he fought it back.

"Hadn't really had time to give it a lot of thought yet, Thomas."

"Thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. That way if someone starts a pool on that after this other one, I might have had an inside track."

"Pool? What pool are you talking about?"

"The one on how long you'll be out. Or if you'll even return. Heard one of the guys trying to get information out of Gage. He told them they shouldn't bet against you."

Swallowing hard, Chet closed his eyes - he didn't want to talk about this. Just the thought that some of the others in the department were making wagers on his recovery made him slightly sick to his stomach. He hadn't minded too much when bets were made about how bad he'd do on the engineer test, but betting on if and when he'd walk again was in an entirely different league. Well, at least it still sounded like John thought he was going to get better. Chet drew a breath in slowly before speaking.

"Thomas? I've had kind of a hard day and I really need to catch up on some sleep. Would you let the others know I'll probably get released tomorrow?"

"You will be? That's great - I'd come for that, but we'll be on duty. Any way - let me go and let you get some rest."

In another part of the hospital, Dr. Morton finally spotted Dixie.

"Dixie? Do you have a minute?"

"Sure, Mike. What do you need?"

"I admit I don't know all of the Station 51 guys as well as you do, but isn't Stoker the quiet one?"

Dixie gave a slight smirk at that question and nodded.

"Generally speaking, that would be correct."

"Well then, Kelly's giving him a run for his money. He's usually more - talkative."

"You noticed that too, hm? Now that he's into a normal cast, maybe he'll perk up."

"He seemed fine just two days ago. What happened?"

"No idea, Mike. But if this keeps up, I'm going to be making a few calls."

When morning came, Chet was a little surprised to not have heard from anyone of his shift, but then he thought back over what Thomas had said. It wasn't his shift any more and A-Shift was on-duty any way. Why would Cap have anyone break away to pick him up when he wasn't even one of the team any more? He was someone else's problem, he supposed.

The paperwork came up right after breakfast and Chet got ready to go. The phone still didn't ring. Maybe he wasn't anyone's problem. He had gotten injured off duty, after all. Maybe that was something he could be fired for since he'd missed so much work for something non-work related.

An emergency down in ER demanded her attention, so Dixie wasn't able to escort Chet out as she'd originally planned. Calling over Nurse Chapman, she asked the trainee to go to Chet's room and see him out. The young nurse wheeled Chet to the entrance and took his word that his ride would be there in a minute. She even gave him a wave before taking the wheelchair back with her, leaving him standing just outside of the door on his crutches.

Chet plastered on a fake smile and waved back to her. Once she was out of sight, Chet began to slowly make his way to the bus stop. He'd make his own way home.


	14. Chapter 14

**Part XIV****  
><strong>  
>Johnny had to ride in with a patient to Rampart while Roy remained on scene with the engine. Since it would be awhile before the squad would come to pick him up, Johnny decided he'd look in on how Chet was doing. He stepped back in shock when the room he expected find Chet in was empty.<p>

Worried now that something might have happened, Johnny flagged down Dr. Morton when he saw him walking down the hall.

"Yes, Gage? Is something wrong?"

"That's what I was about to ask you. What happened to Chet?"

"Kelly? I released him this - wait. You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't know. Who picked him up?"

"I don't have any idea. Dixie was planning on taking him downstairs, so she probably knows. Oh, Gage? Kelly was acting rather depressed. Barely spoke enough to answer my questions yesterday. Something going on down at your station?"

"Not that I know of. Thanks, I'll go ask Dix."

Frown firmly in place, Johnny went back to the ER area and found Dixie grabbing a short break for a cup of coffee.

"Hi, Johnny. You look a little flustered. Don't worry, the case you came in with is going to be fine."

"That's good, but that's not what I wanted to ask you about, Dix. Who picked up Chester?"

The question took Dixie off-guard.

"I was assuming one of your crew did. Didn't you?"

"I didn't even know he was being released today - and I don't think the others did either. I didn't hear anyone mention it at all."

"There was an emergency and I wasn't able to see Chet to the door. He's been acting strangely the last couple of days - I should have questioned him more. Hold on."

Dixie flagged a passing nurse.

"Nurse Chapman. You took Chester Kelly to the entrance today, didn't you?"

"Yes, ma'am. I took him there in the wheelchair as instructed."

"Could you describe who picked him up?"

"No, ma'am. I didn't see them. He said they'd be along any minute and that I didn't need to wait."

As Dixie's look darkened, Nurse Chapman realized she was about to get a lecture. Apparently, Johnny did too and he was relieved to see Roy at the entrance to ER.

"There's my ride - see you later, Dix."

"John Gage - you let me know when you find out about Chet or you'll be in major trouble."

"Yes, ma'am."

The speed that Johnny was coming let Roy know that now would not be a good time to restock. Well, it wasn't like they were extremely low on anything, so it could wait until their next visit. Besides, the look on Johnny's face now that he was closer worried him.

"Chet's been discharged. He's gone."

"What? Why didn't he tell us?"

"I don't know. But both Morton and Dix say he was acting weird. And for Morton to have noticed, it must have been really obvious."

"Morton's not that bad."

"That's not what I meant, Roy. I meant that Morton doesn't know Chet that well, so if he noticed something? Not good."

"On the same page with you now, Junior. Yeah. You're right. You think that maybe his mother picked him up?"

"Maybe. I hope so. I mean, how else would he get home?"

"We'll talk to Cap when we get back. Maybe he knows something."

Taking a break in the shade of the tree in her yard, Beverly looked around when she heard her daughter happily start babbling and saw her neighbor, Chet Kelly, coming down the street on crutches. He looked exhausted so she took her toddler's hand and walked over to meet him, taking the small bag he'd been wrestling with from him as well as his keys so that she could open his door for him.

"Thanks, Bev. Hi, short stuff."

The toddler broke out into giggles as she always did when Chet spoke to her and it broke a smile to Chet's face despite the pain he was currently in. Maneuvering on a bus with a cast and crutches was awkward at best. His leg had gotten bumped and jostled quite a bit to the point where the entire limb was one throbbing mass. Between that and the block and a half that he needed to come after getting off the bus had him ready to collapse.

"What on earth happened to you this time, Chet?"

"Would you believe a fishing trip?"

Easing his way inside, Chet thanked his neighbor again as she went inside far enough to set his bag down on a table and handed him back his keys. As she gathered her daughter into her arms to head back to her own home, she scowled. She really felt like giving the guys Chet worked with a piece of her mind.

It wasn't until she was gone and he was leaning heavily against a wall that it dawned on Chet that the prescriptions for the medications he was supposed to be taking for pain management were still in his pocket. The thought of even attempting to get to a drug store to get them filled was just too daunting. It was just as well that the pain had taken his appetite as well. He didn't even want to think about what condition his refrigerator was in by this point in time.

After catching his breath, Chet made his way to his bedroom. He didn't even bother to try and do anything but maneuver his leg onto the bed, dragging a blanket over his shivering body. In the back of his mind, he knew from working alongside Johnny and Roy that he was exhibiting some signs of shock. In the front of his mind, he was just too tired to care and wrapped the blanket tighter around himself.


	15. Chapter 15

**Part XV**

On the drive back from Rampart, Johnny and Roy discussed a few things back and forth about what might have been up with Chet, but couldn't come up with anything. Someone from the shift had either visited or called to speak with him every day, so surely he wasn't feeling neglected. As soon as the squad was parked, they went in search of Captain Stanley. His door was shut though, which normally meant that he was on a phone call, so they headed over to where Marco and Mike were talking.

"Guys? Either of you visit Chet recently?"

Marco nodded.

"Yeah. I was with him right before they switched him to a normal cast. Mike and I were just talking about it. Chet sure was acting strange."

"Strange how?"

"Quiet for one thing, Roy. Felt like I was using a crowbar to get anything out of him. Really down too. I was thinking he was in pain and just didn't feel like talking, but the more I think about it, the less sure I am."

"When I called, he told me not to come over. Said he was about to try and get some sleep."

"He said the same thing to me on the phone when I called, Mike."

"Me too, Roy. It seem to anyone else that for the last couple of days, Chet was avoiding us?"

Before anyone could start to respond to Johnny's question, Cap's office door opened and he came out, rubbing his forehead.

"Anyone here able to tell me why I just got my ear chewed off by Chet's neighbor? She seems to think he walked home from the hospital."

"Chet was discharged this morning, Cap. Roy and I didn't know until I went by his room and found he was gone."

"Holy cats - you mean he **might **have walked home? Why didn't he let us know?"

Thomas came into the room after finishing the latrine. Johnny was shaking his head.

"No idea, Cap. Chet was his usual self last time I was in his room. He was even talking about what he wanted to do when he got back."

"Mister Kelly seemed okay the times I visited him. Oh - I forgot to mention it, but he said to let you guys know that he was being released this morning."

The sudden stillness in the room was so profound that you could have heard the proverbial pin drop. Even Henry raised his head from his spot on the couch. It took a minute for Captain Stanley to find his voice, but when he did, everyone that knew him well (meaning everyone there but Thomas) knew just how close he was to blowing his top.

"You - you knew and you didn't bother to tell us?"

Thomas just gave the Captain a blank look.

"I just did. What difference does it make? We're on duty."

Mike spoke up, which immediately got everyone's attention.

"You said 'times' - that means more than one visit. When did you see Chet?"

"Uhm - yesterday, after he had gotten his new cast. And the day before."

It didn't take a lot of calculation for Marco to realize that the visit from Thomas fell right in-between his normal visit with Chet and the strained one. Marco also kept his voice modulated.

"So - what did you can Chet find to talk about?"

"Uhm, I introduced myself. Asked if he knew where he'd be going."

"Going?"

"You know - what station he'll be going to if he's not permanently crippled."

**"What?"**

That word vibrated in the air not only because it was yelled, but because it had come from five different throats at the same time. Then Marco began saying something low and fast in Spanish. They weren't words that Roy recognized, but from the tone, he was pretty sure that they weren't words Marco would use around Mother Lopez. Thomas seemed startled, but still clueless. Roy took a couple of deep breaths before speaking again.

"Why do you think Chet would be going to another station? And please tell me you didn't actually use the word 'crippled'?"

"Uhm - pretty sure I did use that word. And he'd have to be going to another station, wouldn't he? I'm assigned here now."

"To this station, but not to this shift, you twit. You're eventually going to be replacing Hawn on C-Shift when his engineering transfer comes through. We're just doing your initial field training."

"Oh."

Just the look on the man's face was enough to tell Hank that there was more they hadn't heard yet. He was almost afraid to ask, but knew they needed to know before they went to check on Chet.

"There's something else. What is it?"

Considering that this time, he actually looked embarrassed, they braced themselves.

"Well, I did let slip about the pool. I don't think he was surprised about it, but he didn't look happy either."

Hank sank down into a seat with his face in his hands as he processed that.

"Who?"

"Uhm - a couple of guys at 110 are running it. They said they always do things like that where Kelly or Gage are involved. How bad Chet will screw up the engineer test, how many days between hospital stays -"

Thomas caught sight of Johnny's reddening face then and wisely stopped speaking.

"Easy, Junior - Thomas is new. If older guys are talking to him as if stuff like this is normal, why wouldn't he believe them?"

Thomas swallowed before speaking again, this time directed to Johnny.

"I thought you knew. I mean, when the one guy was trying to get information about Chet, you said not to bet against him."

Johnny's mouth dropped open.

"You mean they - but what I meant - Roy, I'm going to kill that guy!"

Roy put a steadying hand on Johnny's shoulder, but what he said wasn't calming.

"I'll help."


	16. Chapter 16

**Part XVI**

Captain Stanley came over and stood by Johnny and Roy.

"One thing is for certain. There's too much time between now and when our shift ends. Waiting until our replacements come is too long to go without checking on Chet."

Snapping his fingers, Johnny turned to look at their Captain.

"I think I know what we can do. Dixie was really miffed that Chet was just left at the door by himself - I'll explain that part later - thing is? Dixie's is about to get off her shift and since she's as worried about Chester as we are, I'll bet we could get her to check up on him."

"Go use the phone in my office, John. If she can't do it, we'll think of something else."

Thomas had sunk into a chair and was still not following the interplay between the A-Shift regulars. Marco was the one that moved over closer to try and explain.

"Listen. I don't know what kind of job experiences you've had before this one, but this isn't a place where it is every man for himself. Our lives depend on one another out there. The brotherhood's not just a word, Brent. We live it."

"Even when the guy isn't good at his job?"

Mike made everyone jump when the book that had been in his hand slammed down on the table top. His voice was low, but there was no mistaking the anger behind his words.

"I don't know who put it into your head that Chet Kelly isn't good at his job, but they're a damn liar. Chet's one of the top linemen in the entire department, not just this station. There's not a man on this shift that Chet hasn't laid himself on the line for."

In the office, Johnny had finally managed to get Dixie to the phone.

"Johnny? Is there a problem?"

"As a matter of fact, there is, Dix. Apparently nobody picked Chester up. We don't know the circumstances, but his neighbor called here saying she saw Chet walking home. We're all worried, but we can't check on him until we get off-shift - and none of us think it's a good idea for it to be that long before someone checks on him."

"We're in agreement there, Johnny. Give me the directions and I'll go check on our boy. I give you boys a call after to let you know how he is."

"Bless you, Dix - you're an angel."

Dixie quickly copied down the directions, then went on a quick search. She cornered both Nurse Chapman and Dr. Morton, who were also about to end their shifts. Once she told them what she wanted them for, they both agreed to go to Chet's home with her. Dr. Morton grabbed a few supplies to go with them including a blood pressure cuff, a stethoscope, a thermometer and a penlight. He saw Dixie looking over his assortment and shrugged.

"If he needs more assessment than this, we're brining him back to Rampart."

"In that case, let's go. He's already been by himself longer than I'm comfortable thinking about."

Dr. Morton drove while Dixie navigated them with Johnny's directions. Very much feeling the weight of her bad decision, Nurse Chapman sat quietly in the backseat, hoping that everyone was worrying over nothing. When they pulled in and parked, they quickly found themselves being watched by a young woman with a wide-eyed toddler on her hip.

"Did the Fire Department send you?"

Dixie fielded that one.

"In a manner of speaking. John Gage asked us to come here to check on Fireman Kelly."

She gave a nod at that.

"I've heard Chet mention Johnny."

What they didn't know is that by giving her a name she could connect with Chet, it meant that Beverly wasn't going to call the sheriff's department on them.

"I'm glad someone's come. Tina and I helped him get into his door, but he really didn't look well at all. He said he didn't need anything, but -"

She gave a glance in Morton's direction.

"-well, you know how men can be about that."

Dixie couldn't help the smirk that formed at the expression on Morton's face over that comment.

"I certainly do. Thank you - I'm guessing you are the neighbor that called."

That comment made her relax the rest of the way.

"Yes, I am. Please let us know how he is?"

Dr. Morton headed for the door, reaching for the knob.

"First thing is to see him. If he can't get up to let us in, we may have a -"

The door knob turned in his hand and the door opened easily. Beverly fretted immediately at that.

"That's not like Chet at all. He's been very cautious about locks since that drunk man broke into his place."

Beverly stayed in front of Chet's door as the three medical personnel went inside. It didn't take long to figure out where the bedroom was - and that was where they found Chet still clutching tight to his blanket. He was still dressed as he was when he left the hospital. Dr. Morton laid a hand on Chet's skin and frowned.

"Look around and see if either of you can find the medication I prescribed for him. There should be three bottles altogether."

Nurse Chapman remembered seeing the small bag in the other room and went to look through it as well as in the kitchen and bathroom.

"I haven't found anything, sir."

Dixie had been working at trying to get Chet more comfortable when her hand brushed by one of his pockets. Thinking that he might have his keys or other items in them, she carefully began emptying his pockets. She groaned when she got a look at what she pulled out.

"You can stop looking. He never managed to get his prescriptions filled."

Another smaller piece of paper fell free and Dixie gasped. It was part of a ticket for the local busline.

"A bus? He took a bus from the hospital?"

Nurse Chapman winced at that as Dr. Morton asked Dixie to hand him the prescriptions.

"What are you going to do, Mike?"

"Well, Dixie - that young woman hovering outside has a toddler. She's bound to know where the nearest pharmacy is. I'm going to go get these filled. I think we can avoid another trip to Rampart, but someone's going to need to stay with him for awhile."

Before Dixie could say a word, Nurse Chapman spoke up.

"I'll do it. This is my fault any way."

Softening her attitude toward the nurse a bit, Dixie put her hand on the young woman's shoulder as Dr. Morton headed out to question Beverly.

"Not all of it. You do have to bear part of the responsibility, but so do I for not making sure you knew the correct procedures. You have to keep in mind that people who are under pain therapy of any sort might not always be thinking as rationally as they appear to be. That's why we have to take that extra step and watch out for their best interests."

Bringing a chair over closer to Chet's bed and sitting down, Nurse Chapman nodded.

"I won't be forgetting that any time soon, Nurse McCall."


	17. Chapter 17

**Part XVII**

The first time Dixie tried to call the Station, both the engine and squad were out on runs. The second time she called, she got Captain Stanley.

"Hank, let me start off by telling you that we're with him. Dr. Morton thinks we might avoid having to drag him back to the hospital, but he's going to need some looking after. Kelly really overexerted himself and I don't doubt that he's probably hurting pretty bad right now."

"Dr. Morton went there with you?"

"Sure did. Roped him and one of my nurses into it. Oh, and I don't know that it's a huge improvement over walking, but Kelly took a bus home. So I assume what his neighbor saw was him walking home from the bus stop. Which still doesn't answer why he never told you guys that he was being released."

Hank's sigh could clearly be heard over the phone as he moved to shut his office door.

"He did tell us – or tried to. Chet gave the message about when he was getting released to the new man that's filling in for him. It didn't strike Thomas as important enough to share with the rest of us until after the fact. He's also the likely reason that Chet's been depressed. Thomas has Chet believing that he being transferred to another station. I'm not as positive on this part, but there's also a chance that he has Chet thinking we've been lying to him about how bad his condition is just to keep his spirits up."

"That would explain a lot about how he was acting the past couple of days alright. They'd stepped him up to a stronger pain medication before switching casts because pulling the pins isn't the most pleasant sensation. His head already was far from crystal clear. Was this Thomas fellow being malicious or clueless?"

"More the latter, I think. I also found out from him that there's apparently a betting pool in extremely poor taste that I'm going to be chewing some butt over."

"Not a your station, surely?"

"No, but I'm not going to stand for other stations wagering on my men's health. Could you imagine having to work with another engine crew and having to wonder if they'll back you properly or if they have money on you being injured in the fire?"

"We had something similar here once that had to be broken up where orderlies were actually making bets on which patient would pass away next. They called it a 'ghoul pool'. There were a few job openings in the wake of clearing that up."

"I can imagine. Even worse, I can imagine being the relative of one of the people being wagered on."

"Exactly. Just like your fire scenario. Can you really trust the motivation of someone that might have money riding on you taking a turn for the worse?"

"I might ask you to tell that story to Chief McConakee."

"If it will help put a stop to those sort of things happening to our boys? Name the time and place."

"I will. Thanks for everything, Dixie. One or more of us will be by as soon as our relief gets here."

"I'll be surprised if I don't see all of you."

Dr. Morton returned as she hung the phone up and Dixie took a minute to fill him in on what Hank had said about Chet's possible mental state. He followed Dixie as she moved to the kitchen to get a glass of water to help Chet take his medication. She made the mistake of opening the refrigerator and winced.

"That is in sore need of a good mucking out. Well, it isn't as if he planned to be away for so long."

"He won't be in any shape to clean it out for some time to come, so it will just have to be a hazard zone for awhile longer."

Nurse Chapman looked up when they came back into the bedroom.

"He woke for a minute, but didn't really seem to realize where he was at."

"Kelly know Dixie best. Let her talk to him. He's more likely to respond to a familiar voice."

Moving closer, Dixie sat down the glass of water on the bed table, then took one of Chet's hands and began rubbing it gently.

"Come on, Chet. Open those eyes for me, mister."

The first sign that she was getting through was a puzzled frown. A little more coaxing and Chet opened his eyes slightly.

"There we are. How are you feeling, Chet?"

"Leg's acting up. And whatever drugs you guys have me on are making for some really weird dreams. I thought I'd gone home."

"You did go home. And worried everyone sick in the process."

"Help get him up enough to take his medication, Dixie. Leg throbbing pretty bad, Kelly?"

"Really bad."

Chet debated questioning why all these people were around him if he wasn't at Rampart, but he just swallowed the offered pills down before watching Dixie ransack his closet for another pillow and more blankets. Between the two nurse and the doctor, they managed to get Chet into a fairly comfortable position with his leg propped on the extra pillow.

Once enough time had passed for the medication to start kicking in, Dr. Morton retook Chet's vital signs and was satisfied. Chet was half-asleep again by that point, but that didn't stop Morton from giving a short lecture.

"No more of this cross-country stuff until you've been cleared to begin therapy. And even then, slowly. Not all at once. You dodged one this time, Kelly. Don't count on being lucky enough for that sort of luck to continue."

"I've got lotsa luck, doc. Mostly bad."

There were a hundred questions in Chet's head. He didn't even know if the Department would still cover part of his medical bills or if he was all on his own now. He started to ask or at least he meant to. He dozed back off before managing to form a single question.

Dixie gently reached down and tousled some of Chet's curls.

"They always look like perfect angels when they're sleeping."


	18. Chapter 18

**Part XVIII**

Dr. Morton headed out, but both Dixie and Nurse Chapman remained behind. Dixie hadn't even realized that she'd dozed off by Chet's side until a noise startled her awake.

A quick look verified that Chet was still asleep, but Nurse Chapman was nowhere to be seen. Quietly, Dixie made her way out of the room to investigate and found herself biting back a chuckle. Nurse Chapman was fighting the battle of the mold with Chet's refrigerator - and seemed to be gaining ground. After a moment, Dixie decided to leave her at it and went back into the bedroom.

Glancing at the time, she noted it was time for Chet's next round of medication. Much as she hated waking the man from his current peaceful slumber, she knew that if they didn't stay on top with his pain medication that the throb in his leg would wake him before much longer. And if the pain woke him, it would take the medicine much longer to kick in. This way, he could wake just long enough to swallow his pills and then go straight back to sleep.

As she had predicted, come morning, all of the regular members of A-Shift showed up on the doorstep as soon as they were able to get there. The only one that didn't come was Thomas, much to Hank's annoyance. The man had, even if unintentionally, totally screwed with Kelly's morale and him now not wanting to come over to at least apologize? It didn't improve Hank's opinion of the young man's character.

Then Dixie opened the door and his thoughts went back to their last conversation. Thomas knew about the betting. Had he placed a wager of his own in that 'ghoul pool'? Hank stopped moving as the implications hit him. Maybe what Thomas had said to Kelly and forgotten to tell them had been his way of trying to increase his odds of winning the bet.

The other four men stopped moving and turned to look at their Captain who was going from contemplative to pissed before their eyes. When he came back to himself enough to notice the stares, he waved the men on in.

"You guys go ahead and see Chet. I need to - settle some. I don't want him to see me like this and jump to the wrong idea."

"Go on, fellows. He was starting to stir a few minutes ago, so Chet's not in a deep sleep. Seeing you will probably be the best medicine I could give him. He's in some severe need of cheering up."

For her part, Dixie stepped out to go over to Hank. Seeing that Cap wouldn't be alone was all the incentive the others needed to go on in and find Chet. When Nurse Chapman saw them all coming through, she just nodded to them and went back to cleaning out the refrigerator.

Marco took the chair closest to Chet and reached over to touch his friend's arm.

"Hey, amigo. Wake up for a little bit and talk to us, buddy."

It took him a couple of tries, but Chet did open them and then smiled when he saw the four of them there.

"Hey, guys - you come over to say goodbye? 'Cause if you did, I don't want you to. I mean - we can still see each other now and then even with me at another station, can't we?"

Mike moved closer to the bedside.

"We aren't here to say goodbye because we aren't letting you go anywhere, Chet."

"Mike's got that right. The only one that's said anything about you leaving is Thomas."

"And he's an idiot."

Johnny couldn't help laughing at Mike's inserted opinion of Thomas. Chet's look of confusion sobered him back up though.

"Roy and I aren't going to lie to you, Chet. We might occasionally worry more about comforting someone that passing out facts, but you know we aren't going to mislead you, right?"

"Yeah - I know that."

Roy's voice was soft but firm.

"Then ask us the question, Chet. Even if you aren't sure you want to hear the answer."

Chet took a breath than looked from Roy to Johnny.

"Am I ever going to walk without assistance again?"

"There is absolutely no reason to believe that you aren't going to recover fully, Chet."

The shiver that went through Chet's body worried them a little, Roy leaned over to adjust the blanket over Chet then checked his pulse.

"I'm okay, Roy. Really. Better than I've been in days. I - I dunno. I feel like a weight dropped off."

Marco squirmed in his chair a bit before clearing his throat.

"You have to get better, amigo. I - uhm - I kind of fibbed to you the other day. Just because I didn't want you worrying about things you couldn't do anything about."

Chet reached over and took hold of Marco's hand.

"Hey - you tell that boot he'd better have your back or as soon as I can do without a crutch, I'll nail him with it."

"None of us knew about that betting pool stuff either, Chet. Cap is hopping mad about that."

Just giving a shrug, Chet looked over to Roy.

"That didn't really surprise me. They're always betting on stuff like that. How bad I'll do on a test. I mean, it doesn't thrill me, but it doesn't surprise me."

"Well, them betting on your recovery and on Johnny getting hurt pretty well jerks my chain, let me tell you."

The entire mood in the room shifted as Chet's expression changed from resigned to mad like the flicking of a switch.

"They've been betting on Gage getting hurt? Those son of a - "

A string of words came out of Chet that none of them understood, yet they were all pretty sure what the gist of the meaning was from the way he said them. Johnny was flabbergasted that Chet got angrier over them betting about his hospital visits than Chet's own.

For their parts, Mike, Marco and Roy all just gave Johnny an amused look.

"Did you think we were all kidding you when we'd tell you how much pacing Chester here does anytime you land in the hospital, Junior? Not everyone shows caring in the same way."


	19. Chapter 19

**Part XIX**

Dixie moved over to where Hank was pacing.

"Hey - want to talk about it and let it out before you form a trench?"

Glancing back at her, Hank nodded then ran a hand through his hair.

"Remember what we were talking about earlier? About not being able to trust the motivations of folks betting on other people's health?"

"Of course. What about it?"

"The thought hit me about Thomas knowing about the betting pool. Now I can't shake the thought that maybe he made a bet himself. And maybe he said those things to upset Chet deliberately to improve his odds."

"I can see where that would have you upset, Hank. I'd be livid if I thought one of my nurses was doing anything like that. I take it you're trying to cool down before seeing Chet?"

"Pretty much, Dixie."

"Have you already talked to your Chief about this mess?"

"No. I was going to do that after seeing Chet."

"Why don't you borrow Chet's phone for a minute? Go ahead and give him a heads up. Not only will that probably ease your tension, but then you can tell Chet that the ball is rolling."

"Couseling service part of your job?"

"Only for friends. Now scat."

Heading inside, Hank was pleased to see Chet acting more like himself with the others around him.

"Kelly - mind if I borrow your phone for a minute?"

"Hi, Cap. Sure - be my guest."

Once Cap's head was back out of the door, Johnny gave Chet's shoulder a light poke.

"What was you were saying before? That wasn't a language I've heard before."

"Old habit. Something else I got from my Doherty grandmother. She spoke fluent Gaeilge. Being a typical smart-alecky kid, I mainly picked up the words she used when she was 'lowering her blood pressure', as she used to call it."

"Gaeilge?"

"Irish Gaelic. Morai Doherty came over from Ireland as a young woman."

"Her name was Morai?"

Chet chuckled at that.

"Morai is like saying Granny. Her first name was Ceara. She was the only one of my grandparents I actually got to know. Kept us in line when Mom was working."

Dixie had stopped to have a word with Nurse Chapman when Hank motioned her over.

"Dixie? Would it be too stressful on Kelly to be moved? I gave a call to Ellen to talk to her before calling the Chief and I woke up the mother hen. She says if we can get him over there, she'll take care of watching and feeding Chet until he's getting around better on his own."

That brought a smile to Dixie's face. She'd gotten to know Ellen Stanley and knew that Hank's boys were also her boys.

"Well, I doubt the trip will be pleasant, but if you time it so that it's shortly after he takes his pain medication, it should be alright. I was a little worried about how he was going to manage after we all have to head back to work. His current cast really limits his range of motion. When he's able to go down to a smaller walking cast, he'll be able to help himself a lot more."

"Good. Ellen? Dixie says that should be fine. I just have to talk Chet into it now. I doubt that will be a problem. He's never turned down anything you've cooked. I'll call you back - thanks, honey."

Hanging up, Hank took a deep breath and placed the next call.

"Yes - could I speak with Chief McConakee please? This is Hank Stanley."

Dixie perched nearby as Hank told the Chief about the betting pools. From the long silence and nodding on Hank's part, she could tell that McConakee was having quite a bit to say about that.

"Right, Chief. I'll see you then, sir."

After he hung up the phone, Hank found Dixie looking at him expectantly.

"He's going to drop by tomorrow and have a talk with Thomas to get all of the details."

"Do the others know about your suspicions?"

"No. And I don't want them to. There's a chance I'm wrong and I don't want any of them getting angry at Thomas. Well, other than being angry at him for the things they already know about."

Taking a deep breath, Hank put on a smile and headed back to where his men were.

"Everyhing alright, Cap?"

"Yes and no, John. Hey Kelly, care to help me keep my wife happy? I'm threatened with the couch unless I get you over there for her to keep an eye on you."

"Gee, Cap - I mean, I don't to put her to -"

"Stop there, you twit. She's the one insisting, so you aren't putting anyone out. She's done the same for everyone here - well, except Roy, I guess."

"And even in my case, she's taken food over to help Jo with meals when I've been injured."

"And Dixie thinks you'll be able to make the trip alright after your next dose of medicine, so what do you say?"

Marco gave Chet a nudge.

"You really want to be eating your own cooking when you already feel bad?"

"Oh sure - insult a man's cooking when he's down."

"If it will make you feel better, I'll insult your cooking when you're feeling better too."

"Ow - no making the guy with the bruised ribs laugh. No fair."

"Well, Chet? I think I was the last one that Mrs. Stanley took care of. She won't baby you to death. And she's a great cook."

"Geeze, John, I get the feeling I'm outnumbered."

"See? You do have good sense. Occassionally."

Chet shot Johnny what was probably supposed to be an annoyed look, but the slight grin he had on his face spoiled it.

"Alright. I'll go. Uhm - thanks, guys. Thanks, Cap."

"You stay still and direct us, Kelly. We'll get your bag packed for you.

The move was made without a lot of fuss. Beverly came out with her daughter and spoke briefly with Chet, promising to keep an eye on his place while he was away. Once Chet explained to her that there had just been a missed communication and the guys hadn't known he was getting out of the hospital, Beverly asked Captain Stanley to step to the side. Once they were there, she apologized for snapping at him over the phone.

"I guess I get a little oversensative with things like that. My husband's deployed right now and I know how much I have to depend on the guys around him to watch out for him for me."

"No need to apologize, ma'am. I'm glad to know my man has someone watching out for him when he's off the job."

While Cap was speaking with Beverly, Johnny watched Chet with Tina, thinking that he was seeing yet another side of his jokester co-worker. As the young girl looked over his cast, he was explaining to her that it was sort of like a really big bandaid for a bit owie. Roy rummaged up a felt pen at Chet's request and they all watched amused as Tina drew a few flowers on Chet's cast for him.

"Thanks, short stuff - that looks a lot better."

Beverly laughed at the sight of the drawings as she collected Tina before giving Chet's shoulder a light squeeze.

"Get better soon, Chet. The neighborhood's way too quiet without you."


	20. Chapter 20

**Part XX**

At the start of the next shift, everyone was surprised to find that Chief McConakee was there. Everyone, that is, except for Captain Stanley. It didn't take much to figure out what was going on when the two of them went into the office and called for Thomas to come in with them.

The others went about doing their usual chores and tried to keep their minds off of what might be going on behind the doors, though all of them were assuming that the Chief was just getting some details from Thomas. Daniels from the last shift had agreed to stay over and cover in case a run came up before the Chief was finished talking with Thomas.

In the bay where they were working on cleaning up Big Red, Marco gave Mike a nudge. A man looking a bit lost had just come in. He was in uniform, so from the lost look and his age, they guessed he was probably another of the new boots. Marco wiped his hands off and went over to meet him.

"Hello, can we help you?"

The man gave Marco a hesitant smile.

"I hope so. I'm Matthew Alman. I was told to come here and wait for Chief McConakee?"

"You're in the right place. The Chief is in a meeting. Why don't I show you where you can get a cup of coffee and wait for him?"

It was another half-hour after Alman's arrival before the call went out for all of them to come to the table. It didn't escape anyone's notice that Thomas remained in the office while Chief and Cap came out.

Chief McConakee spoke to the assembled men.

"Gentlemen - I'd like for you all to meet Matthew Alman. You'll be showing him the ropes for lineman duty while he fills in for Kelly during the remainder of his recovery. He'll be moving on to replace Hawn when his transfer comes through, so train him well."

"Now, as to the other matter that I've had brought to my attention. Officially, the department frowns on all betting pools, but so long as they don't disrupt the routine of the shifts, such things on sporting events won't really be paid much attention. However, any such nonsense where someone is placing bets that concern the health and wellbeing of a fellow firefighter is not, has not been and never will be tolerated. Even less tolerated will be those individuals that not only bet, but then attempt to manipulate their fellow firefighters to make the winning of that bet more likely."

As they exchanged looks, the part of what the Chief wasn't saying hit them all at about the same time and the four sets of eyes moved straight to the closed office door. Hank was suddenly very glad that he has the one that had wondered about Thomas and even gladder that he'd kept it to himself. He could very easily have lost a man - or more - if they'd gone after Thomas themselves. Alman looked to Captain Stanley, puzzled at how the others were reacting and Hank decided it was a good time to give the new man a job.

"Alman? Take a bag with you to the locker room. Find the locker with Brent Thomas' name on it and empty everything out into the bag. Take the nametag off the locker and put it in there as well."

Chief McConakee added on to that instruction.

"And when you've finished, put the bag into the back of my car."

"Yes sir - sirs."

Once Alman was out of the room, Chief McConakee spoke again.

"I know how I'd be feeling in your shoes, men, but let me deal with this at the department level. And I apologize to all of this crew that something like this occurred in the first place. I particularly want to extend an apology to you, Gage, since I've learned that some of the betting involved you. So that you all know, I plan on seeing Firefighter Kelly later today to tender the department's apologies to him as well. That's all I have for you men, so you can consider the meeting over."

Johnny rose at that and offered the Chief his hand.

"Thank you, sir. I appreciate that and I know Chet will as well."

Roy, Mike and Marco followed suit with Mike, all shaking the Chief's hand before Roy spoke up.

"Permission to return to our duties, sir? I don't think any of us care to see him again."

No-one had to ask who was being referred to. The Chief just nodded.

"That's a fine idea, DeSoto. Dismissed, men."

As they exited, Marco overheard Johnny talking to Roy.

"Can you believe that guy? We should've known there was something up with him sooner."

"I know, Johnny. I feel the same way."

In the bay, Mike looked up as Marco gave him a light nudge with his elbow while looking over to the paramedic team. Thoughtfully Mike nodded, but a moment later, the squad was toned out for a respiratory arrest case.

When the squad pulled back in, the smell of a batch of Marco's chili filled the air. Both paramedics were splotched with mud. A passing car had swerved to rubberneck at them working on their patient and hit a mud puddle. They had been able to mostly protect the patient from the splatter, but not without getting sprayed themselves.

"Man, that smells good."

"Sure does, Johnny. Let's get into something a little less muddy and go eat."

Two lockers opened in near unison – two paramedics were nailed by water balloons in near unison.

As the two dripping wet partners looked at one another, they heard Marco's voice using a tone very much like that of an instructor.

"You see, Matt? There is this Phantom that lurks around the station. It tends to target the unwary."

Mike nodded and added in.

"The Phantom also targets those who are on guilt trips to derail them."

Roy was the one that started laughing first as he started to peel out of his sodden shirt, but Johnny's laugh wasn't far behind.

"I guess old Chester can use that as proof that the Phantom has a life of his own, Roy."

Roy neatly caught the towel Marco tossed his way.

"I guess he can at that, Junior."

Matt Alman proved to be a team player and did his best to learn everything he could from the A-Shift crew so that he could hit the ground running when he went into his permanent slot. All of the crew pitched in with giving Chet a hand, both with his physical therapy and his studying. The next engineer test was coming up and the Chief had cleared it so that Chet could take it even though he would still be out on medical leave at the time.

When the results came out, Chet's ranking had moved up to 48 – a score that all of A-Shift celebrated along with Chet, much to the confusion of the other shifts. But Chet was thrilled with that and it was a huge boost to his morale.

"Hey, if those study tricks helped me do that much better while I'm still on pain pills and doing physical therapy, they should help even more when I'm off of all of that."

On Chet's first day back after being released to full-duty status, Alman was there to welcome him back along with the rest – Hank had wanted him to be present and to share in the cake that his wife had sent to celebrate the occasion.

"Alman, you get the coffee going. I'll get the cake on the table. The rest of you lot - go get changed – we'll have roll call in five."

Once the other five had left the room, Alman heard Hank start chuckling and wondered what that was all about. A few seconds later, he got his answer when surprised exclamations came from the locker room. Heading over with Hank, they found all five crew members were soaked – including Chet, who was in the process of laughing himself breathless.

"Mop this up and dry yourselves off, you twits. And step on it or Alman and I will eat all the cake."


End file.
